I dropped out of school and moved out of my home at 15. I
was pregnant and in love with my junior high school sweetheart. I finished
homeschooling myself and ended up living in poverty and raising 3 kiddos with
my then husband. We broke up for a couple of years and I started dating a drug
dealer. I got pregnant again and was single and had 4 kiddos.
Eventually, I got
back together with hubby number 1 and we tried to make it work… and we did for
a little bit. He got saved and went back to church and I rededicated my life to
Jesus then as well. Around this time two little girls who went to our church
entered foster care after their mom and baby brother were shot. I phoned DSS
and started volunteering for the local foster parent association. I also stayed
in touch with the little girls.
***I phoned DSS at the community center. Our church had
Christmas gifts we wanted to get to the girls and one of the ladies at our
church was having trouble getting hold of the worker to coordinate. For some
reason I knew I could get through when I was there. I finished the call and my
son was playing with a fellow and another young boy there. The fellow had heard
my call and asked who I was talking to. We had chatted a bit before and after
the call and I didn’t get the feeling he was being nosey. I told him but didn’t
think more about the conversation until we took the gifts to the little girls.
The fellow I had been talking to was the foster father for the little girls. I
ended up volunteering as a GAL during this time too.***
My ex did well for two years but he couldn’t stay clean and
he developed some serious mental health issues. We broke up finally when he
started hitting me for listening to Christian sermons. The last bit we were
together the kids and I literally had to walk on eggshells so he wouldn’t fly
off the handle.
I had to flee my
hometown to get away from my ex. I had to temporarily stop volunteering and my
life went sideways for a bit. It was all I could do to keep my head above
water.
I met my current husband on Facebook. We both have kiddos
diagnosed with autism, so we had some common ground. The hubs is a believer. We
lived in the eastern part of the state for a couple of years until CPS took his
son and his son’s half brother and sister from their mom. She had been keeping my
husband’s son and the other kids hidden after the kids started showing signs of
being abused. She had been working with Easter Seals with intensive in-home
services and we would help her out by keeping all the kids on school breaks and
weekends because there were serious allegations against her. Once CPS found
her, the court gave us full custody of my husband’s son who was 6 and
eventually we got his older half-brother when he was 12. We fought for this
young man for 3 years and visited him on weekends even when we moved back to
the mountains and had to drive 4 hours to see him. They put him in a level 3
group home at age 9. The boys have no contact with bio mom. I have been mom to
them since.
Once both kiddos were with us I was able to go back and get
my BA in International Relations, then I went for my MA in Interdisciplinary Studies
(Pastoral Counseling/Theology)…I accidentally picked up a second degree while
trying to save money by taking two classes at another school that were much
cheaper to transfer them. They took transfer from Liberty, so my MTS is from
Nations University. I fell in love with Pastoral Counseling, so I decided to
get licensed as an LPC. I would love to get a Doctorate in Pastoral Counseling,
but I am yielding to God about whether or not to pursue any more schooling. I
hope to be a missionary to Ethiopia if God lets me.
Essentially, I was the goth girl that everyone thought wouldn’t
amount to much. I shouldn’t have. Now, I love Jesus and am born again. God
changed my heart and quickened my mind. God gave me 6 wonderful kids, a good
husband, and a good job. My boss is pretty cool too.
I left out a lot there’s too much to tell…I tried to hit
some of the major highlights lol.
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